We just came back from a great theater performance. I love theater with a passion of 100 literary critics and feel great compassion for people who don’t know how to enjoy this form of art.
We watched All the Way, a play about LBJ’s efforts to push the Civil Rights Act through the Congress and then his campaign against Goldwater. It is disturbing how, in spite of all the obvious and great progress, we are still hearing the same arguments and witnessing the same debates. The Voter Rights Act is once again sorely needed, the anti-gay sentiments are verbatim what the anti-black arguments were in 1964, etc. The play brought this home in a powerful way.
The only weak part of the play was the actor playing MLK. He was way too young and signally lacking in charisma and gravitas to play this part. If MLK had been as limp as this fellow made him out to be, we’d still be drinking from separate water fountains. This actor would take MLK’s powerful lines and deliver them with less enthusiasm than I show when I lie to my neighbor that her dog is cute.
Before the play, N was at the Strange Loop conference and then came to meet me at the Strange Folk festival. I have no idea why everything was about being strange in St Louis today but the city did look strangely alive.
The Strange Folk festival was so strange that it had a stall that sold. . . old Soviet pocket watches.
I saw myself in the mirror at the glass maker’s booth and realized that I couldn’t be happier with how stylish and put together I look, even though my hair has gone completely nuts again. People (women only, of course. This isn’t Cuba) were touching me all the time at the festival because they loved my applique, my barrettes, my shawl, my handbag, etc. That was very funny.
Clarissa's Blog 
Hey, Clarissa, a picture speaks thousand words! Surely, you paused to take a selfie of yourself at the glass maker’s booth mirror. Don’t be stingy, share your stylish appearance with us!
Your time is always bizarre compared to Arizona’s, so I’ll reply in the morning. G’night.
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Sorry, I didn’t take one this time. But the next time I will!
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May I ask who played LBJ? I know that Brian Cranston (BREAKING BAD) portrayed LBJ during the original Broadway run and is also reprising the role in the HBO adaptation of the play.
And thank you for bringing up the Voter Rights Act. It is why I can go out and vote without fear, and to see some on the Left ignoring it by telling people not to vote or supporting those who are against it only because those opponents are against the NSA or are calling for all troops to be brought home (Rand and Ron Paul are two prominent examples) is sickening.
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Our LBJ was Brian Dykstra, and he did a great job.
What was really sad is that there were no black people in the big audience. Demographically, this is unjustified and shows how much work remains to be done.
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